Liam Smith vs. Canelo Alvarez: Winner, Recap and Knockout Reaction

Saul "Canelo" Alvarez extended his winning streak to six straight matches and won the WBO light middleweight championship with a knockout victory over Liam Smith on Saturday night. 

Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times reported Alvarez knocked Smith out with 2:28 left in the ninth round.

An Alvarez victory was easy to see coming, as the champion controlled the tempo of the fight from start to finish. Alvarez used quick flurries and his signature power to knock Smith down twice before striking the ultimate blow to finish the match.

The lone blemish on Alvarez's resume was a loss against Floyd Mayweather in 2013. His win over Smith moves his career record to 48-1-1, with three of his previous five wins coming by knockout or technical knockout. 

The boxing world was left underwhelmed earlier this year when Canelo vs. Smith was announced, knowing it meant the long-awaited and much-anticipated showdown between Canelo and Gennady Golovkin was on hold. 

Alvarez and Golovkin did agree to a bout in fall 2017, per Oscar De La Hoya:

At least Alvarez and Golovkin were able to get victories in their first matches after this agreement, but it's still just delaying the biggest money fight in boxing for the sake of delaying it. 

Smith did try to stir up interest in his bout with Canelo by saying in an interview that Alvarez was purposely avoiding Golovkin. 

“Yeah, ducked him [Golovkin] massively. He went the wrong way about it. He’s being criticized a lot and losing a lot of fans about the way he did it," Smith told Fightnews (via Bradley D. Cision of Boxing News 24).

Smith had an air of invincibility around him coming into the fight with a 23-0-1 record, but this was really his first chance to get mainstream exposure outside of England. He was given almost no chance to win in the betting, with Odds Shark listing Alvarez as a 25-2 favorite. 

It wasn't the fight fans were clamoring to see, but Alvarez was at least able to take care of business to keep the potential matchup with Golovkin on track for next year. 

Post-Match Reaction

For Alvarez, this was just confirmation that he would become light middleweight champion, per Arash Markazi of ESPN:

"

First of all, I want to say I told you I was going to give a great fight and get the championship and here it is. I started going after him, but in the second round I hurt my hand. I hurt my right hand and had to use the left more often. There was some disparity but that's what happened. ... I give big punches with my body shots, and I enjoyed it very much. I fear no man. I am the best fighter in this.

"

He also made it a point to give credit to Smith, who made it such an entertaining bout over nine rounds, per Markazi:

"

I felt he was very strong in the beginning so I had to put the body work and felt he would dwindle, that's how I did my job. ... Liam Smith was a resilient fighter, he was tough, has a lot of heart. He thinks before he attacks, I could tell in the way he blocked in the way he approached me.

"

For Smith, it just couldn't come together on Saturday night, via BoxNation:

However, with a record of 23-1-1, there will be plenty of fights awaiting Smith as he continues to develop his name in boxing outside of England.